Datura

Datura (genus Datura), also called thorn apple, genus of about nine species of poisonous flowering plants in the nightshade family (Solanaceae). Several Datura species are collected for use as drugs, and others are cultivated for their showy flowers. Many are considered weeds in warm parts of the world and commonly grow along roadsides and other disturbed habitats. Datura species are often confused with members of the related genus Brugmansia, which features a number of ornamental trees and shrubs known as angel’s trumpets.

Flower of the sacred datura, or sacred thornapple (Datura wrightii). The plant is native to …

Clinton and Charles Robertson

Datura species are herbaceous sprawling annuals or short-lived perennials, characterized by large trumpet-shaped flowers. The fragrant flowers can be white, yellow, pink, or purple and produce a spiny capsulefruit with numerous seeds. The leaves are simple and alternately arranged, with lobed, wavy, or entire margins. The plants contain potent alkaloids, including atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine, and can be fatal if ingested.

Desert thorn apple (Datura discolor).

J. Klimas—Photo Trends/Globe Photos

A number of species, especially jimsonweed, or thorn apple (D. stramonium), toloache (D. innoxia), and sacred datura (D. wrightii), have long been used by various peoples, including Mexican Indians, in their religious ceremonies.

Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium).

Teun Spaans

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any member of the more than 300,000 species of flowering plants (division Anthophyta), the largest and most diverse group within the kingdom Plantae. Angiosperms represent approximately 80 percent of all the known green plants now living. The angiosperms are vascular seed plants in which the ovule...

the nightshade, or potato, family of flowering plants (order Solanales), with 102 genera and nearly 2,500 species, many of considerable economic importance as food and drug plants. Among the most important of those are potato (Solanum tuberosum); eggplant (S. melongena); tomato (S. lycopersicum);...

general term for any plant growing where it is not wanted. Ever since humans first attempted the cultivation of plants, they have had to fight the invasion by weeds into areas chosen for crops. Some unwanted plants later were found to have virtues not originally suspected and so were removed from...

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Datura is a genus of plants of the potato family Solanaceae (order Solanales). Several species of Datura are collected for use as drugs, while others are cultivated for their large, trumpet-shaped, fragrant flowers.